The rest of Cadiz

Day three of our stay in Cadiz began with rain but soon after breakfast the sun broke through and we headed outside.  We had decided to try and find a lavadero (laundromat) to get our clothes washed and turned south towards the center of much more modern Punta Tierra.  Unfortunately, we could not locate one of these small, family owned laundries and we returned to the boardwalk along the Atlantic coast for a quick lunch.

We returned to the old city in the early afternoon determined to explore every street and alley of this beautiful old Spanish city.  Just inside the old city gates we visited the charming Iglesias (churches) of Santa Maria, Santa Cruz and Santo Domingo.  The Teatro Romano and Carcel (jail) Real are also in the immediate proximity of the old city gates and on the way to the beautiful cathedral which, it is said, was inspired by the cathedral in Granada.

Stopping for a beverage and a tapa of pickled carrots and onions in the cathedral square we waited for a cloudburst to abate while practicing our “bar” Spanish with the very amenable waiter.  Later, we crossed this narrow part of the city and visited the bus station to see the schedule for the autobus to Marbella.  After ascertaining that there were plenty of buses that would get us to Marbella we angled back to what was becoming one of our favorite places in Cadiz, Plaza San Juan de Dios for another refresco and where we found a wonderful old Spaniard playing the guitar beautifully.  We convinced him to play a few more arrangements after which he stopped by our table (we gave him a couple of coins of course) and chatted with us in his rusty English.

The following day found us crossing into the old city early under clear, sunny skies.  We delved deeper into the city on this morning with our first objective, the busy Plaza de las Flores which was alive and colorful with every type of blossom one can imagine on this beautiful spring morning.

  Crossing the city our next goal was the Inglesia del Rosario and the Oratorio de la Santa Cueva to see the wonderful marble altar pieces in the former and three magnificent paintings by Goya in the later.

Once again, the mixed bag of weather we’d been having in Spain turned for the worse and chased us back to our hotel.  In nearly four full days we had explored less than half of this incredible city.  One cannot walk down the streets anywhere in the old city without being distracted by the beautiful architecture, the history, the artistry, or simply the ambience of the quaint narrow streets with their sidewalk cafes and potted flowers in almost every window.

Cadiz, like Granada, generated in us the desire to explore and the feeling that we could spend weeks there before we might possibly see most of what this historical city has to offer.  This is definitely another part of Andalucia that we plan to visit again and again.

 

Cadiz, a city by the sea....

Cadiz

To those that haven’t been there it is almost impossible to describe the geography and the beauty of this ancient and historically important city.  There are actually three cities that surround the Bahia de Cadiz or Bay of Cadiz.  These cities are San Fernando, Puerto Real and Cadiz which together have a population of around 400,000 with Cadiz accounting for about 160,000 of this.

Cadiz itself is a hexagonal shaped end of a peninsula which forms part of the natural harbor of the Bay of Cadiz.  Cadiz consists of two parts, the old city which is called Cadiz and a peninsula formed from reclaimed land known as Puerta Tierra which is the isthmus which joins Cadiz to the mainland.  Because Cadiz is open to the Atlantic on two sides and the African desert breezes from the other two sides it is normally very windy in this city yet the two winds tend to mitigate each other so the climate tends to be very moderate.

It was very windy when we arrived, of course and we checked into the Hotel Monte Puertatierra  just a few blocks from the old city gate.  The hotel was relatively inexpensive but with surprisingly spacious rooms, clean, comfortable and quiet even though the hotel was located on Avenida Andalucia, the main street through Puerta Tierra.  A basement breakfast room featured the best breakfasts we have experienced in Spain (worth the extra 9 euros or so).  WIFI was free and there is a computer and printer in the lobby for guests that need to print anything, which we did.  Plenty of English was spoken at the front desk so checking in and asking questions were a breeze.

Our first afternoon in Cadiz started with, a drink and tapas at the nearest café along the Atlantic coast, what else?  The wind nearly blew us out of the café after about an hour so we strolled up to the city gates (about a mile) for a peak but returned to our hotel for an early dinner, showers and bed after the several hour bus trip from Malaga.  We enjoyed dinner in the restaurant attached to the hotel that evening, enough to return several times during our visit, and plotted our explorations to begin in the morning.

We awoke to a beautiful sunny, breezy spring day and after discovering the incredible breakfast bar in the basement we set off for what we were already starting to call our “epic walk” (first walk in a new city which consists of walking around the entire circumference or old city walls).  This is easier said than done in Cadiz because the walk around the outside of the city contains many distractions like fortresses, batteries, cathedrals and parks in addition to being several miles long (7 to 9 as best we could figure).

Starting at the old city gates we angled to the left, toward the Atlantic Ocean and after stopping briefly at the cathedral (closed at this time of day) we reached the boardwalk, Campo del Sur, after a few minutes.  We walked the boardwalk until we came to an additional, tiny isthmus that led to the Castillo San Sebastian which is a fortress that sits far out into the entrance of the Bay of Cadiz.  We walked this isthmus in the hopes that we would be able to explore the Castle but, unfortunately, it was closed to the public for reasons our poor Spanish did not allow us to understand.

Just before noon, time for a frosty beverage and a pit stop so we turned inland until we found a charming little sidewalk café where we had a beer and a glass of wine with a tapa.  Tapa may be the wrong word for the small plate of olives and pickled onions that were given to us but they hit the spot anyway.

Onward we walked along the impressive old city walls facing the entrance to the bay until we reached the Castillo de la Santa Catalina which is located on another point of this hexagonal shaped old city.  After climbing all over this small fortress we were thirsty again and stopped this time in the Parque Genoves for additional refreshments and where we met and chatted with a lovely couple from the US whose cruise ship was in port for the day.  The park was in full bloom on this warm spring day and children were playing while the locals sat in the shade with their refrescos (drinks of any kind, normally cold).

We continued our walk and turned the next corner upon which is located the gun battery at Punta Candelaria.  Just past these vertical walls dropping into the ocean we found a beautiful, tree lined pedestrian avenue called Alameda de Marquis de Comillas.  This is one of the most beautiful roads we have seen up to now (second only to the Carrera del Darro in Granada).  We were really enjoying this!

By now it was approaching 3 pm and we were once again in need of refreshment, perhaps more in need of a “servicio” (bathroom) and after admiring the Monumento a las Cortes and the Plaza de Espana (just about every city in Spain has one of these) and passing the port we turned inland and found the lovely Plaza San Juan de Dios where we had our choice of sidewalk cafes.  Have to admit that we stayed for more than one refresco at this friendly place while we rested and people watched.

A couple of miles later we were back at our hotel for a quick siesta before dinner.  We were finding that we were enjoying lingering over coffee, a refresco or dinner and we went to bed after our first full day in Cadiz exhausted physically yet surprisingly refreshed mentally.